The present invention is concerned with animal feeding bunks and more specifically with animal feed bunks placed on the ground for the feeding of animals. In the prior art, feed bunks having a trough supported by a base are used for the feeding of animals. Prior art bunks do not provide the advantages of the present invention in compactness of disassembly for storage and shipping purposes. Some prior art devices have legs firmly attached to the trough which legs can be bent along the trough sides of the trough. However, this is undesirable as material fatigue resulting from bending can weaken the legs to cause them to break and fail so that the bunks cannot be used and must have the broken parts required or replaced. Such feed bunks do not have the shape to allow the fitting of one disassembled bunk into another as provided by the present invention.
Other feed bunks have a trough with a base which can be detected from the trough. However, the base is not shaped so that it can be inverted relative to the trough and reattached to the trough so that the trough fits within the base, or to provide the fitting of one bunk within another. Other prior art bunks have legs which are pivotally connected to the trough and which may be pivoted above the trough for suspending the trough, but such pivoting does not reduce space for shipping or storage, nor are such bunks shaped so as to receive each other for compactness in shipping or storage.
The present invention improves over the prior art. The invention comprises a bunk having a trough supported by a base. The base, in the upright position, has a generally concave underside and a generally convex upper side. The base is centrally divided into two side sections, each having arcuate legs which at their lower ends extend into sled type runners. The legs have a straight section at their upper ends which fit within sleeves secured to the bottom of a trough to be firmly held therein, so that the trough is supported above the base in the upright position for feeding.
The trough, in the upright position, has a concave upper side and a convex lower side. The trough has sloped ends so that the bottom length of the trough is shorter than its top length. The base can be detached from the trough, and its position relative to the trough inverted, to allow each base section to be reattached within the trough sleeves so that the base concave side fits around the convex side of the trough for a compact shipping or a storage assembly. In the inverted position, the shipping or storage space required for the bunk is greatly reduced, and the base in its inverted position remains firmly attached to the trough so that parts of the feed bunk are not lost or damaged.
The novel bunk thus provides a compact storage or shipping arrangement for a unitary bunk, but the invention further comprises other beneficial features. The symmetrical nature of the inverted bunk and the other features of the shape allow one inverted bunk to be stacked upon another inverted bunk with the concave trough side of an upper bunk receiving within it a substantial portion of the convex side of the inverted base and trough of the lower bunk. In this fashion, several inverted bunks can be stacked upon each other with each bunk trough receiving a substantial part of the base and trough of the bunk beneath it. The symmetry of the bunks allows the stack to be balanced to avoid toppling of the stack, and the parts of the inverted bunks are positioned so that components of the bunks are not punctured by other components. Thus many such bunks may be stored in a prescribed area.
It is an object of the present invention to provide for a bunk that in its operative feeding position has its trough elevated, and can be conveniently disassembled from its operative position and reassembled into a compact arrangement.
It is an object of the invention to provide a bunk that has a base that fits with a trough for a compact arrangement.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a bunk that can be assembled for shipping or storage so that parts of the bunk are not separated from one another.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a bunk that can be assembled for shipping or storage without bending or misshaping parts of the bunk.
It is an object of the invention to provide a bunk which in plurality can be stacked together in a compact and stable arrangement which does not damage the bunks.